Jaime's Story
My son Nik and I are preparing to move into our own apartment!!!! We are so excited. Since being at Hope Street I have established a new foundation of responsibility, spiritual growth, independence, family bonding, and peace. I’d like to focus on the peace part of my life. Before coming to Hope Street, peace was foreign to me. I had lived a life of instability which stemmed from years of abuse, loneliness, drug addiction, an untreated mental health disorder called Bipolar, and shame. I was very familiar with sadness, disappointment and isolation. I grew up in Germantown and was given all of the tools that might be necessary for a successful life. But the devil took hold of my life for many years and destroyed the woman that I wanted to be.
I was incarcerated for almost 5 years and, ironically, that was where I became mentally healthy. When I got out of prison I found myself back in the shame and isolation. I did not know what direction to go into to find peace. Then God lead me to Hope Street. When I first moved into Hope Street, I kept hearing about this greenhouse for people and I couldn’t completely wrap my head around the concept. But now as I look back over my two years here, I believe that I had many overgrown weeds in me, yet I was coming in to a beautiful environment full of blossoming flowers. I believe that Hope Street helped me to dig up “my personal weeds”. Slowly, I began to identify the blossomed, beautiful flower that was within me.
The staff has helped me tremendously and I am very proud of what I have accomplished since being on Hope Street. Hannah helped me to obtain a great job at Johnsonville which I have been at for over two years. I can never thank her enough for that. Rachael helped me in more ways than I can express. Specifically, she helped me to understand how to budget and I have repaired my credit as a result. Brian was praying for my son when things were really tough in his life and that meant the world to me. Ashley doesn’t know this, but she has been an example of the sort of business woman that I aspire to be. I look up to how she displays her professionalism and her kind heart more than she realizes. Mrs. Carol, who isn’t here anymore but still means a lot to me, had a heart which came to me through her many hugs!
I now have an outstanding relationship with my family. I have been free of drugs and alcohol for 8 years! I am most proud to share with you that I went back to school. I will be graduating from The Milwaukee Area Technical College at the end of May this year. I was accepted into The School of Education at UW-Milwaukee. This fall, I will be pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree, majoring in Community Engagement and Community Education. (More on my degree: https://uwm.edu/education/academics/community-engagement-edu/ ). My passion and my aspiration is to work with women coming out of incarceration. I want to help women to find housing, jobs, mental health programs, AODA programs, and to reintegrate into society successfully. I believe that God lead me down a very tough road so that I can personally relate to women who are coming out of hard times. I can see myself having a professional relationship with Hope Street someday by letting women understand what Hope Street is about.
I can finally say that this blossomed flower is prepared to leave The Greenhouse For People and be transplanted into the Milwaukee community! I need to open up my Hope Street apartment for another person who is in search of peace and hope! I ask for your prayers mostly. I am also asking for any donations that you might have to help me start the next portion of my journey. I am prepared to purchase all that I need, however, any help right now will simply make our move that much smoother and allow me to be more stable.
I appreciate all of you all!!! Your prayers were heard by God, because Hope Street has a SUCCESS STORY IN ME! Peace & Blessings to all of you.
--Jaime
